Backward and Forward Searching

The most common search in PsycINFO is theBackwards search. This search will tell you who someone cited in his/her papers. Suppose we do an author search (au) on Jacquie Muir-Broaddus, Professor of Psychology, here at Southwestern University.

Your first result will look like this:

Notice the link "Cited references." is BACKWARD searching. J. Muir-Broaddus cited 53 other articles. This is her published bibliography.

Now look at the link called "Times Cited in this Database" (circled in red below) . This is FORWARD searching. This search will tell us who has cited her original article. This article was cited 25 times in other articles within the PsycINFO database. The page will display the original reference (above) but also those papers that that have cited that reference.